Chapter 5
Prev Chapter PART FIVE The cloaked man stepped through the threshold of the run-down inn and into the sand-dusted earth of the creaking, near-deserted town. He glanced through the vacant streets and towards the desert sunrise. The night fled before the wall of brilliant orange light creeping from behind the burning horizon, and so too would the bounty hunter set out once more. Fastening his desert cloak, he pressed on towards his destination… his reunion. He hadn’t made it far before he recognized the faint sound of another person walking, echoing from somewhere behind him. The cloaked man glanced over his shoulder and saw nothing - the streets remained empty as ever. He halted suddenly and the footsteps petered off into silence. “I can hear you following me,” he called out. “I don’t care who you are, but if I don’t hear you heading in the opposite direction, I’ll hunt you down and –“ “That ain’t going to be necessary,” a familiar voice called back from close by. Half-beard leapt from the shadows of a nearby alleyway and walked towards the cloaked man. “Heard you were visiting Tuzosia, and something told me you’d end up in this neck of the woods. It’s been a while, man.” Edge pulled down his hood. “Casey,” he growled. “What are you doing here?” “I was hopin’ to ask you the same question, actually,” the pirate replied. “What is it that could possibly make you to totally abandon all your property, your career, even your… what is it, seven cats? You’re damn lucky I got to ‘em before they started eatin’ each other, you know. But yeah, why would you just leave all that behind without a moment’s notice and head off to a third-world country like this?” “You don’t have any reason to give a damn about what I do with my life,” Edge snarled in response. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here?” Half-beard shrugged. “Well, we’re sort of partners in this business of ours, right?” he answered. “I have every reason to be interested in your welfare. So when I hear that you’re comin’ back here again, after what we saw last time… well, I’m just making sure you ain’t plannin’ on doing anything stupid.” “It’s Serling, isn’t it?” Edge said with a smirk. “You’re worried that I’m going to go back for the treasure, die, and get more blood on your hands?” The pirate’s face grew darker. “Look, it… it was stupid of me to take that job without knowin’ why we were being hired,” he gravely replied. “I don’t want another good man to die out here for no reason.” “We did NOT find that temple for no reason!” Edge suddenly roared, causing Half-beard to stagger back in surprise. “You don’t understand… you can’t possibly understand. I don’t care about the treasure anymore. I don’t care about wealth, or people, or… or my damn cats. None of it matters anymore! I tapped into something that night, Half-beard. Something reached out to me in that Temple, and… and it never let go.” Edge was right; Half-beard didn’t have the slightest inkling of what Edge was talking about. “Look, ah… maybe you need help, huh? If you come back with me, maybe-“ “There’s no turning back,” Edge cried in a cracking voice, burying his face in his palms. “I tried to fight it… I struggled with it for weeks, but the power that surges through me… it’s bigger than us all! I can hear its call… the whole world can hear it, if they know to listen. The others, all of them, they’re all trying to find it… why not me? Why shouldn’t I take it for my own?” Half-beard had heard enough. “You ain’t well, Edge,” he whispered, unsheathing one of his swords. “I’ll ask you one more time to come back with me, before I take you back myself.” Edge threw off his cloak, revealing a scarred body covered only by bandages and an assortment of wickedly curved knives. “You shouldn’t have come here, Casey,” he coolly intoned. The pirate raised his swords and took a defensive stance as Edge charged forth with a savage cry. The bandaged bounty hunter slashed with blinding speed at the pirate’s body, whose much wider blades deflected each blow with little difficulty. Edge began circling around his opponent in a ceaseless assault, but Half-beard turned constantly to face him, leaving no side unguarded. Half-beard was surprised at his opponent’s agility, which seemed to go beyond any speed his old partner has previously exhibited. Still, Edge’s technique had not drastically improved. Though his movements were quick and difficult to predict, his body was too tense with rage to wield this speed effectively, and he relied solely on the relentlessness of his attacks as his defense. Half-beard only needed to wait for a stupid mistake and exploit it. Edge raised his knives above his head and cleaved downwards, a thrust which Half-beard caught deftly with one of his cutlasses. This was the opening he had been waiting for. With his remaining sword, he sliced an arc across Edge’s chest, barely drawing blood but causing Edge to fall back, stinging with pain. “Not too bad, Edge,” said Half-beard with a hint of pride, “but we both know that I’ve always been the better fighter. Why don’t you just give up now and throw down your knives. ” Once Edge had caught his breath, he allowed himself a brief laugh. “You’re right… you have always been the better fighter,” the bounty hunter replied with a grin, “but now, I have the ultimate power!” Edge spread his arms wide and cast his gaze towards the sky. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he began breathing deeply, entering into a sudden trance. His breath quickened, and quickened again, until suddenly waves of ethereal energy began to flare up from his body. Bathed in an otherworldly red light, Edge seemed as a man transformed into something far more fearsome. Before Half-beard had time to question what he was seeing, his foe was upon him yet again, striking like lightning just as the pirate managed to brace himself. Their battle was rejoined just as before, with Half-beard repelling each frenzied attack. This time each blow seemed to fall more heavily, each strike coming more rapidly after the one before it. Slowly he found his defensive maneuvers forcing him to surrender ground to the whirling dervish of destruction Edge had become. Before long, the pirate felt the cold stone of an abandoned building at his back. Thinking quickly, he ducked and rolled out of the way, missing a fierce thrust by seconds. Looking up, Half-beard found that Edge had used his now-superhuman strength to lodge one of his knives, along with one of his fists, into the brick wall before him. This might be the pirate’s last chance to come out of the battle alive, and he knew it. He discarded his swords and reached into his holsters, pulling out twin guns… only moments too late. Freeing himself, Edge delivered a swift and powerful kick to the crouched Half-beard’s stomach. Casey’s last means of defense flew from his hands as he rolled backwards through the street. Edge stood above his defeated ex-comrade, who still lay wheezing on the ground, clutching the spot where he had been struck. “You really shouldn’t have come, old friend,” Edge said again, placing his foot upon Half-beard’s chest. “It will be your last mistake.” An explosion sounded in the distance just as Edge raised his dagger into the air to strike. “What the...?” he began, and then another sounded, closer by. A pillar of billowing flame erupted from not far behind a nearby building, sending some of the town’s few inhabitants running into the streets screaming. Edge stepped away from Half-beard, raising his knives to prepare for whatever was drawing near. Another intense explosion tore through a nearby wall, revealing a mysterious figure standing in the midst of what was now burning wreckage. His face and body was masked by a vermillion-and-black set of strange armor, jets of fire pouring from its every opening. Its eyes, yellow and glowing like embers, became fixed upon Edge. Its hand, little more than the end of an enormous gauntlet from which claws protruded, was raised in the bounty hunter’s direction, and at once a burning ball of fire was sent flying towards him. Edge didn’t know what the being attacking him was, but it didn’t matter to him. He ducked under the fireball and broke into a charge. The burning fiend raised his giant armored hands to meet the warrior’s weapons just as the bounty hunter fell upon him… While Edge was busy with this new challenger, Half-beard rose to his feet and began running. “This shit’s out o’ my league,” he muttered to himself as he took off down the Soon the sounds of explosions and clashing blades faded in the distance, and Half-beard allowed himself to slow down in a remote alleyway. He stopped and leaned against a wall, allowing himself to catch his breath. Before he had time to really think about what the hell was going on around him, he was knocked to the ground for the second time that day. This time he was left sprawled out on the ground by a brilliant blue beam, launched from the hands of a being standing atop the high wall of the alley. It was similar to the burning man in shape, but its armor was white instead of red, and where flames rose from the other this specter was released only clouds of icy mist into the air. The attack had left Half-beard’s feet encased in ice. The ice-demon laughed gleeful at having incapacitated its target. It leapt downwards, a spear composed of ice developing spontaneously in his clutches, preparing to skewer the pirate. Half-beard sighed, reminded himself that he had a good run, and clenched his eyes shut. The being in the white armor fell closer and closer… A man wearing a crimson cape and scarf stepped suddenly in front of the collapsed pirate, holding a colossal sword aloft. The leaping fiend cried out in surprise, but it was too late. A wave of cold mist burst from the creature as it impaled itself on the sword, nearly being split in two by the would. With great effort, the caped knight brought his weapon down, sending the icy creature flying into the alley wall. Much to Half-beard’s surprise, the creature still managed to move, apparently struggling to seal the gaping seam in its body by using its ice powers. The stranger then lifted the blade once more and, with surprising but much-welcome precision, cleaved through the ice constricting Half-beard’s legs. The pirate jumped to his feet, and found that his mysterious rescuer was handing him a small saber. It seemed familiar, somehow… and, Half-beard suddenly realized, so did the man holding it. “Jesus,” he gaped, “Serling, is that you?” The man paused for a moment to consider his response. “Not exactly,” he boomed. “Rod Serling is but a puppet of the Blade, and the Blade is the soul to whom you speak at present. It is a pleasure to meet you, Half-beard. Are you interested in undoing apocalypse?” Next Chapter